Presentation given by Jonathan Hassell (Director of Hassell Inclusion and lead author of BS8878) at User Vision, Edinburgh for Word Usability Day 2011.
Covers: why and how the BBC approach accessible; how BS8878 helps organisations understand the business case for accessibility; how it provides organisations with a framework to embed accessibility in their policies and web design processes; how hassell inclusion can help you move forwards in implementing BS8878 (read the blog at http://www.hassellinclusion.com/category/bs8878/ for more help)
15. BBC view: what accessibility really should be…
• all about disabled people
• it‟s not about accessibility…
or even usability…
it‟s about a great user experience for disabled people
• whether they can get the right value out of what we create
• exactly like we aim for, for every other audience
• so that includes enjoyment and fun
BBC MMX
16. How we do accessibility at the BBC
• researching the user needs of disabled and
non-disabled people early…
• working out how homogeneous they are and
feed them into the production process…
• using standards (like WCAG 2.0) to do
accessible production…
• user-testing evolving product iterations
to see if they are meeting those needs
• making this „the way we work‟ for all products
BBC MMX
17. High level research example: Talking Disability 2008
• Objective:
– „to gain a deep understanding of how
audiences with disability are using different
media, gauge their perceptions of the key
media providers, and understand what role
media plays in their everyday lives in 2008‟
– commissioned by BBC and Channel4
• Participants/methodology:
– Desk research & analysis
– Qualitative:
• 74 participants
• workshops on HI, VI, Mobility/Manual dexterity
• in home depths on mental health, web 2.0 use
– Quantitative:
• 500 person random sample
BBC MMX
19. Blind people‟s current user journey on TV
Find the
programme you Enjoy the
Buy the device Watch the
want to watch programme
to watch TV on programme
✔ ✗
only a few,
✔ ✔
most digital it‟s TV, this just AD allows you
expensive to enjoy without
boxes include works
digital boxes sight
AD
include TTS (but only on 12%-20% of
progs are)
EPGs
BBC MMX
21. Blind people‟s user journey on iPlayer
Find the
programme you Watch the
Buy the device Enjoy the
want to watch programme
to watch TV on programme
✔ ✔most iPlayer
✔
had to work hard
✔
most blind people AD allows you
devices either but transport
already own at to enjoy without
include TTS or controls work just
least one iPlayer
can have it from keyboard sight
compatible device (but only on 12%-20% of
installed for free, progs are)
so EPG speaks
BBC MMX
22. No simple, or inexpensive task…
Tools to Accessible
Reliable
translate from media player
workflows for
broadcast to on all iPlayer
translation
online devices
BBC MMX
23. Use of diary-study research to suggest answers to tricky
questions…
• if you were designing a way of navigating through a 30min - 4hour
programme, just using two buttons, how would you do it…?
• is there a best (simplest and most efficient) way…?
• is that the same for everyone…?
• does it depend on the programmes the users would want to watch…?
BBC MMX
24. The feedback is good…
I have just watched all this weeks episodes with audio
description and I am impressed…
I find it very accessible and easy to work and I am very
pleased with it.
Only problem, it has made me start watching Eastenders
again!
BBC MMX
25. Resulting benefits
• Reach:
– enabled us to get more return on existing
investment in broadcast audio description
• Awards:
– won the BIMA for Best Usability &
Accessibility 2009
– and the Access-IT@Home award 2009 for
„best ICT based project, product or service
that advances independent
living for people with disabilities
or who are elderly in Europe‟
• Reputation:
– now other UK, EU, global broadcasters further developing their video-on-demand
services, aiming for similar levels of accessibility
BBC MMX
26. Strategic research example: Disability Panel 2009-10
• Objective:
– „To discover how well we are catering for our
disabled audiences across web, mobile, IPTV to
inform strategy/prioritisation‟
– What are doing well?
– What could we do more of?
– What should we stop doing?
• Participants:
– 28 disabled people
– 16 to 60yrs old; 13 male, 15 female
– Mild to severe vision, hearing, motor & cognitive
impairments
• Methodology:
– Diary study of media use & review of BBC sites
– Focus group discussion of diaries
BBC MMX
27. Example finding: the need for personalisation
• findings from the panel &
BBC iPlayer disability focus group (2009)
• Vision impaired / dyslexic
• “I like the black – it‟s cool”
• “I hate it – I find it really tiring”
• Low literacy
• “can it just talk or something?”
• Aging / learning difficulties
• “it was just too overwhelming”
• so different user groups can have
conflicting needs
• inclusive design doesn‟t handle
diversity of needs well at the moment
• hence the need for personalisation
BBC MMX
28. Example finding: inclusive design also expects too
much from many disabled people
• the assumption that we can rely on disabled
people always having the Assistive Technology
they need to help them is often wrong
• that expects web users to:
a. be aware that an Assistive Technology exists for their need
• (even with sites like BBC My Web My Way
to point the way) most are not
b. are able to afford that technology
• most are C2DE so have difficulty affording expensive techs
c. are able to work out how to install it
• most are not technical
d. are able to work out how to use it
• most are unconfident
e. are able to use it to access online content
• thus… many never get this far, even if the site is WCAG AAA
BBC MMX
29. Explains why use of Assistive Technologies is low…
6-8% Of web users use an
Assistive Technology
(screenreader, adapted
mouse or similar)
to access the Internet
Source: EEDP (2008)
BBC MMX
30. When the benefits should be useful to most users…
57% Of computer users
(aged 18-64)
are likely or very likely to
benefit from the use of
Assistive Technology
Source: Microsoft/Forrester Research study 2003, USA
BBC MMX
31. Provided the genesis for a new product – MyDisplay
• a website tool…
• which enables users to
get BBC desktop and
mobile sites
the way they want…
• whatever device they
want it on…
BBC MMX
32. Three clicks… and the rest of BBC Online & BBC Mobile
uses their preferences…
BBC MMX
33. MyDisplay iterative production process:
Do initial
audience
research Research and
testing partner:
If more Develop
improvement minimal,
justified, flexible
cycle… next version
User test to
get better
audience
research
BBC MMX
Digital TV has brought many advances for disabled and elderly people in recent years… access services - subtitles, signing, and audio descriptionIt’s brought problems too…“what box do I need… and how expensive is it?”“how do I find the programmes with the access services I need?”especially if the electronic programme guide doesn’t include speech…
Digital TV has brought many advances for disabled and elderly people in recent years… access services - subtitles, signing, and audio descriptionIt’s brought problems too…“what box do I need… and how expensive is it?”“how do I find the programmes with the access services I need?”especially if the electronic programme guide doesn’t include speech…
this requires:accessible media players which can play access servicestools to create online access services, or translate from existing broadcast servicesworkflows to make this efficient